Gold - the bank run of the millennium?
Once there was gold, and it was money.
Then there were banks to hold the gold.
Then the banks lent the gold.
Then the banks lent more gold than they had.
Then there were bank runs.
Then the gold standard was "abandoned".
Then there was paper, and it was money,
And there were gold reserves "backing" the paper money.
Then there were futures on gold.
Then there were options on gold.
Then there were options on futures on gold.
Then there were unregulated gold derivatives.
Then there were "loans" of gold reserves.
Then there was far more "paper gold" than gold in all the world.
Then, circa 1999-2000, there was a run on all the "paper gold" in exchange for gold?
We've seen this all before. We saw it at the dawn of modern banking, we saw it in the 1930s, and we're seeing it now. Each time, the scale increases.
But instead of a lone bank unable to redeem its paper for gold, or a nations' banks unable to redeem its paper for gold, we have the whole global financial system unable to redeem its paper for gold.
According to Alan Greenspan, gold will be "mobilized" in ever increasing quantities, should the need arise. Evidently, the need has arisen. Gold IS being mobilized. Every run in history was preceded with a mobilization. The question remains, as always, will the mobilization succeed? Stay tuned.
August 22, 1999, do you know where your bullion is?
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